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Thursday, February 18, 2010

BOOK REVIEW: Alaskan Renegade

*This is just my opinion, my personal take on any given book, use as a reference. I will not be overly gushing. I will also endeavor not to give too much of the plot away.I will not hand out 4 star ratings for every book, or try not to.*

Kate is from Canada like myself, I have read many of her past historical western offerings, and love that they were set in the Canadian West, some with hunky Mountie/Doctors!But Kate lately is focusing on Alaska, and like her past books, the action kicks off right at the start of this novel.

It is the late 1890's the hero, Brant MacQuaid is a bounty hunter, after a dangerous and notorious outlaw rumoured to be hiding in Glitter Mountain.

The Heroine Victoria Windhaven is a nurse, and, someone from Brant's past, he once romanced her older sister.Brant is hired to escort Victoria and Medical student Cooper Sullivan, a twitchy youth almost afraid of his own shadow. The stagecoach's axle snaps, and they have to leave the injured driver behind, and the three continue on horseback. Fascinating, riveting stuff to observe Victoria treat the people she meets along the way through the mountain.Brant for his part, is keeping his bounty hunter status secret, he tells them all he was hired to be an escort/protection.But what has rocked Brant's world is how Victoria has grown up.Victoria also feels the pull, as she had a girlish crush on her sister's then suitor. Sexual/romantic tension mix very well with the honest-to-God-adventure that unfolds here.The villain is straight out of one of those 4-star western movies, Walker Dixon. Kate Bridges describes Walker (the outlaw Brant is hunting) as a man whose Pa taught him to "shoot a coin off a man's shoulder, how to skin a deer, how to rob a bank and how to aim for a man's heart."Fantastic.The action is non-stop and relentless. Walker Dixon and his father are just so multi-layered, I wish I could have learned more about them (as bad as they are)But one of the more fascinating things is the transition of Cooper from a citified, quivering mouse to a man of convictions.Needless to say, along the way, Brant and Victoria find themselves alone, and they soon act on the mutual attraction. Nothing like rolling around naked, outdoors, with a crackling fire as company. Passionately done, as befitting a Harlequin Historical.I won't give away the rollicking finale, and Brant and Victoria have a lot to overcome to get to their HEA, both are determined to live their lives as they please, a compromise seems unlikely.But Kate Bridges gets us there as only she can. Wonderful read.

3 and 3/4 stars out of 4

KOVER KUDOS: 2 and 3/4 stars out of four. Brrrr! The model must be cold, open shirt in Alaska? LOL! It's fairly generic cover, I like the western town along the bottom, but since the novel takes place in the mountains, I fail to see the significance. As I said. Generic. But not without its merits. The model guy is cute in a boyish way, not exactly how Brant is described in the book, however.